One of the most anticipated mobiles of the year is here: the OnePlus Nord 2, the true successor to the first OnePlus approach to the premium mid-range by the original OnePlus Nord. An experience that went well, judging by the successive series of Nord N10, N100, N200 and Nord CE ..
A year has passed since the first North and the competition is increasingly fierce in its range. The question is inevitable: how does the OnePlus Nord 2 stack up against its competitors in Android’s most demanding mid-range?
The 90 Hz begins to know little
To see what the OnePlus Nord 2 looks like in today’s landscape, we’ve compared it to devices with similar specs and price points. In our comparison, we included the POCO F3, Realme GT, OPPO Find X3 Lite, Samsung Galaxy A52 5G, Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G, and Sony Xperia 10 III.
A 90 Hz screen is good, but the competition is already rising in 120 Hz
We start with the screen, where AMOLED and OLED have an absolute majority and with a single terminal that falls below 90 Hz, the Sony model. The OnePlus Nord has a 6.43-inch 90Hz AMOLED display, which is great but is starting to lag a bit behind what others are offering. POCO, Realme, and Samsung have already moved up to 120Hz, while OnePlus repeated last year’s move.
As for the diagonal of the screen itself and how to integrate the front camera, again we have two sides: Sony’s and everyone else’s. The OnePlus Nord 2 and all of its competitors have screens around 6.5 inches and single hole punch, unlike Sony with its six inches and cameras in the top frame.
With so many AMOLED displays, the normal thing would be to think that we would have an abundance of under-display fingerprint readers like in the OnePlus Nord 2, although the truth is, it’s pretty consistent: Xiaomi, Sony and Poco on the side, the rest under the screen.
Camera action
In the photographic field, the OnePlus Nord 2 has dropped a pair of lenses compared to its predecessor, but we already know that more is not always better. Up front it has a 32 megapixel front camera and behind it a 50 + 8 + 2 megapixel triple camera. One of the highlights of this year is the use of the Sony IMX 766 sensor and optical stabilization.
On paper the cameras of the OnePlus Nord 2 don’t look bad, borrowing from the OnePlus 9 (which we put 8.5 in photography in our analysis), even if the analyzes will have the last word. This is not a very different configuration from the competition if we exclude, once again, Sony with its 12 + 8 + 8 MP triple camera.
The OnePlus Nord 2 has fewer lenses than its predecessor, but a better sensor
Of course, if you want telephoto, you should look to alternatives like the POCO F3, Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G, or Sony Xperia 10 III. The rest, OnePlus Nord 2 included, remains in the main sensor, ultra wide angle and an additional sensor for macro, portrait or both at the same time. This year, there is no macro lens on the OnePlus Nord.
Processors for all tastes
The biodiversity of the transformer ecosystem continues to grow more than we were used to a few years ago. All the phones in our comparison are 5G, like the OnePlus Nord 2, but with seven different processors: seven phones, seven different processors.
Seven mobiles in our comparison, seven different processors
Of course, OnePlus changed this year this year and went for the most powerful of the MediaTek, the Dimensity 1200. The others basically have the entire Qualcomm 5G processor lineup from the Snapdragon 690 from the Sony Xperia 10 III to the Snapdragon 888 from the Realme. GT.
The benchmarks will have the final say in this regard, although on paper the power of the Dimensity 1200 should give it at least an advantage over the Snapdragon 7xx. The OnePlus Nord 2 is well stocked with RAM and storage, as there is only one other terminal on the list that has a version with 12 GB, the Realme GT.
The OnePlus Nord 2’s 4,500mAh battery is in line with the rest, although its 65W fast charging stands out above the rest, at least on phones that don’t come from the same matrix. Outside of OPPO and Realme, the rest is about half, about 30W.
Comparison chart
OnePlus Nord 2
SMALL F3
Realme GT
OPPO Find X3 Lite
Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
Xiaomi Mi 11 Lite 5G
Sony Xperia 10 III
Screen
AMOLED 6.43 “
Full HD +
90 Hz
AMOLED 6.67 “
Full HD +
120 Hz
AMOLED 6.43 “
Full HD +
120 Hz
AMOLED 6.44 “
Full HD +
90 Hz
AMOLED 6.5 “
Full HD +
120 Hz
AMOLED 6.55 “
Full HD +
90 Hz
240 Hz response
6 “OLED
Full HD +
Dimensions and weight
158.9 x 73.2 x 8.25 mm
189 grams.
163.7 x 76.4 x 7.8 mm
196 grams.
158.5 x 73.3 x 8.4 mm
186 grams.
159.1 x 73.4 x 7.9 mm
172 grams.
159.9 x 75.1 x 8.4 mm
189 grams
164 x 74 x 6.81 mm
159 grams.
154 x 68 x 8.3 mm
169 grams
Processor
Dimension 1200
Snapdragon 870
Snapdragon 888
Snapdragon 765G
Snapdragon 750G
Snapdragon 780G
Snapdragon 690
RAM
8/12 GB
6/8 GB
6/8/12 GB
8 GB
6/8 GB
8 GB
6 GB
Storage
128/256 GB
128 GB / 256 GB
128/256 GB
128 GB
128/256 GB
128/256 GB
128 GB
Front camera
32 MP f / 2.45
20 MP f / 2.45
16 MP
32 MP
32 MP f / 2.2
20 MP
8 megapixel f / 2.0
Rear camera
50 megapixels f / 1.88
8 megapixel f / 2.25 UGA
2 MP f / 2.5 mono
48 megapixels f / 1.79
8 MP f / 2.2 UGA
5 MP f / 2.4 tele
64 MP
8 MP UGA
2 MP macro
64 MP f / 1.7
8f / 2.2 UGA
2 megapixel f / 2.4
2 MP f / 2.4 mono
64 megapixels f / 1.8
12 MP f / 2.2 UGA
5 megapixel f / 2.4
5 MP f / 2.4 bokeh
64 MP f / 1.79
8 MP f / 2.2 UGA
Telemacro 5 MP f / 2.4
12 megapixel f / 1.8
8 MP f / 2.2 UGA
8 MP f / 2.4 tele
Drums
4,500 mAh
Fast charge 65W
4,520 mAh
33W fast charge
4,500 mAh
Fast charge 65W
4,300 mAh
Fast charge 65W
4,500 mAh
Fast charge 25W
4,250 mAh
33W fast charge
4,500 mAh
Quick charge 30W
Other
On-screen fingerprint reader
Stereo speakers
Side fingerprint reader
Dual speakers
On-screen fingerprint reader
On-screen fingerprint reader
Stereo speakers
On-screen fingerprint reader
Stereo speakers
IP67
Fingerprint reader on one side
Stereo speakers
Fingerprint reader on one side
IP68
Official price
From € 399
From 349 €
From € 429
From 366 euros
From € 429
From € 399
From € 429
